The Ukrainian National Guard continues to shell Slavyansk, completely surrounded by armored vehicles and military checkpoints, locals report. Residents are hiding in cellars without electricity and water and no chance to evacuate from the besieged city.

At least five people
were killed during the assault on Friday, local eyewitness Vitaly
told RT, adding that it was impossible to assess how many people
could have been injured in the deserted city where “whole
streets” were “obliterated.”

The people are hiding in cellars, Vitaly says, as destruction is
widespread and it is hard to predict where the next strike may
come from with planes engaged in the ongoing
“anti-terrorist” operation, as Kiev calls it.

“They have destroyed at least 4 houses, schools, daycare have
all been destroyed, the pharmacies have all been destroyed. We
have no work. We have no water or electricity. We have no
money,” eyewitness told RT. “We have no clue how to
survive further. Most likely we'll start eating grass from the
garden.”

The city has been completely surrounded, Vitaly confirmed. A real
war is raging in Slavyansk and the military tactics used by Kiev
is more than “disturbing,” he added.

“The children are afraid,” he said. “Two streets in
Slavyansk have been completely obliterated.”

“A genocide is underway, they have no clue what they are
bombing,” press secretary of the People’s Mayor of
Slavyansk, Stella Khorosheva said. “During the shelling of
the city, according to preliminary data, Ukrainian security
forces used multiple Grad rocket launchers,” she added.

Meanwhile, the self-defense militia sources in Slavyansk told Ria
Novosti, that apparently “in retaliation for the downed
aircraft” the Ukrainian army shelled the SBU building – one
of the headquarters of the militias. Neighboring civilian houses
were also destroyed, the source said.

With nightfall, a source in the militia told Itar-Tass said, the
Ukrainian army are deploying “flash rockets.” There are
many wounded he says, “at least 10 people.”

Earlier on Friday, Vladislav Seleznev, the speaker for the Kiev’s
military operation in the east, said the armed forces are
deploying more tanks to strengthen their checkpoints near
Slavyansk and roadblocks around Kramatorsk.

“Checkpoints, which are often subjected to shelling and
attacks by terrorists attempting to escape from the tight
encirclement, are being reinforced with armored vehicles. One of
the tanks, for example, is near the crossroads leading to Krasny
Liman. The task of the vehicles is to increase security and
prevent terrorists from breaking the encirclement,” Seleznev
was quoted by Unian.

Meanwhile the village of Cherevkovka is also being shelled by
artillery – in particular the “Akacia” howitzer and Tyulpan
self-propelled mortars. “It seems that without the
reconnaissance plane, the artillery has no clue where to fire.
They fire everywhere. They have enormous expenditure of
ammunition,” the source told Ria Novosti.

The Ukrainian army is also attacking self-defense force positions
using artillery around Kramatorsk airport, the source added.
Social media sources seem to confirm the claim of the ongoing
fighting.

Some 170 km from Slavyansk at the checkpoint of Marinovka in the
Donetsk region, the Ukrainian border guard service has confirmed
that it deployed planes to battle militias, Unian reports. Local
media claims at least 4 people have been injured in the fighting
at Marinovka.

On Tuesday, the National Guard intensified what Kiev calls an
‘anti-terrorits’ operation with a massive artillery attack on
Slavyansk, a city with a population of over 110,000 people. The
plan is to conduct a “sweep” of Donetsk and Lugansk regions ahead
of Saturday's presidential inauguration.